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FGW unit changes.....

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Nat the Ned

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This weekend sees FGW loose 150230, 236, 240, 241, 242, 251, 253, 254 to Arriva Train Wales. (Hence the 37 on the valleys finishes). FGW also loose 153302, 308, 329, 369 and two others not sure where these are going.

153329, 153369 are the recently refurbished ones in 'Looe' and 'St.Ives' light blue livery.

If any TOC was to take on 153302, 308 they are absolutely disgusting and would advise the guard to hand out disposable boiler suit things to passengers.

Also tonight 150219, 153380, 158778 become he the last passenger units to be serviced at EWS St.Blazey with local unit work transferring to Laira depot tomorrow. In fact Laira is to apply the 'Local Lines' livery to the class 150's with the first one going in next week.....

N
 
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Nat the Ned

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Appears the blue 329 and 369 may be staying with FGW, 355 and 374 have gone, also 158863 has gone to Scotrail......
 

Nat the Ned

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150219 has tonight gone into Laira and when it comes back out it will be in the new 'Local Lines' livery...

n
 

Woody

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Noticed today at Exeter that most main line locals were 150s not 158s, is this the new FGW order for Devon/Cornwall.
 

scb201

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First post....

Well the 150's are far better for the rural lines in Devon. Easy to get on and out of and great for sticking your bike in. If you've tried to get a bike on the 158's you'll know what I mean.

The other thing to point out, is that the 150's were in a far better state than the 158's were the last time I looked!!
 

Sprog

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I wonder how my SPM is coping with its new allox of DMUs....

Ill be down there nextweek, and i bet itll be a mad house.
 

Mojo

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Still, a huge loss of seats - at the RMT 'protest' in Bristol City on Friday, they said 1,839 per day in Greater Bristol were to be lost, made up of a reduction of 12 trains and shortening of others.

There was one of the 'Blue Bricks' on the Severn Beach Line on Thurs (after fGW decided to cancel 4 trains)
 

Nat the Ned

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I wonder how my SPM is coping with its new allox of DMUs....

Not very well at all judging by the amount of cancellations today due to 'unit failure'.

Are the staff at SPM properly trained on the 15x fleets?? Although they may seem a basic train the electrics are rather complicated and a 'fitters' course should last apx 11 weeks...


N
 

Nat the Ned

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There is a protest at BTM tonight by residents of Severn Tunnel Junction http://www.saveseverntunnel.co.uk/.

Severn Tunnel managed to get one of its morning stops put back into the timetable on Friday just gone (two days before the timetable started!!). However this morning the train was cancelled anyway, unit failure.... Maybe they'd be better off buying a bus between them?
 

Sprog

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Weve got an ennormous challange at the Marsh with these ex Canton units.

They are totally hanging and its always been known that the 'transition' is going to be rough, no matter how mcuh palnning and training there is.

What we really need i our new facilites at SPM, but these are not finshed yet and wont be until early next year at the best. When they are online though, things will improve greatly as we will have brand-new specialised maintenance and inspection facilities.

I am actually sortve dreading going back to the Marsh next week, because i know its going to be a total nightmare, and i should imagine us apprentices will be mucking in even more than we currently do (which is alot anyway).

We are also an '08' down at the mo, my pet gronk in fact, because Landore depot blew their only one up last week so, even after they where refused by our managment, came with an Alleys lowloader and 'stole' it anyway.

As for unit shortages, well, im not sure haow many 158s we have had from TPX, its been hard to keep track, and im not sure if we are due to get anymore (maybe Nat can inform me in detail). But the TPX ones are ok-ish, unlike the Central bag-of-w@nk ones we where using earlier this year, which have gone back now, thank god.

It is most likely that the units been 'grounded' at SPM, or Laira in fact, becuase of the shocking sate they have been found in by our staff, even though decalrared 'servicable' by Canton :roll:

Alot of staff i know from GW and everywhere else have been wishing us luck with these DMUs, and for a dam good reason.......
 

David

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As for unit shortages, well, im not sure haow many 158s we have had from TPX, its been hard to keep track, and im not sure if we are due to get anymore (maybe Nat can inform me in detail). But the TPX ones are ok-ish, unlike the Central bag-of-w@nk ones we where using earlier this year, which have gone back now, thank god.

I would have thought that any 158 used by TPX in the last couple of years would be in major need of works attention. Apart from the bare minimum done to the units to keep the running, they have had nothing done to them at all, and have been run into the ground, especially the ex Central units (158790/1/4/7 IIRC). Those 4 should be the first to be done, closely followed by the rest of the 158s used by TPX.
 

devon_metro

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First post....

Well the 150's are far better for the rural lines in Devon. Easy to get on and out of and great for sticking your bike in. If you've tried to get a bike on the 158's you'll know what I mean.

The other thing to point out, is that the 150's were in a far better state than the 158's were the last time I looked!!

Well, many of the 158s have first class which is a bonus, and are more comfortable/quieter/have air-con/are warmer due to vestiable/are faster

Although are suited to longer journeys. 143s on CDF-PHH is suicide if you ask me!
 

Max

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I would have thought that any 158 used by TPX in the last couple of years would be in major need of works attention. Apart from the bare minimum done to the units to keep the running, they have had nothing done to them at all, and have been run into the ground, especially the ex Central units (158790/1/4/7 IIRC). Those 4 should be the first to be done, closely followed by the rest of the 158s used by TPX.

Yes, they are starting to sound as bad as the Northern ones, and a few are looking very worse for wear inside. However, they are still probably some of the nicest 158s on the network, apart possibly from Scotrail.

I believe some of the ex-Central ones have gone to Northern, though someone would have to confirm this.
 

theblackwatch

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As for unit shortages, well, im not sure haow many 158s we have had from TPX, its been hard to keep track, and im not sure if we are due to get anymore (maybe Nat can inform me in detail). But the TPX ones are ok-ish, unlike the Central bag-of-w@nk ones we where using earlier this year, which have gone back now, thank god.

Most of the ex CT units have now moved on to Northern as part of its fleet expansion. According to my records, the following units have moved from TPX to FGW over the past few months:
June - 158750
July - 158762/3/4/5
August - 158761
September - 158760/6
October - 158769/76
November - 158778/98

Hopefuly this will tie in with Nat's records.
 

devon_metro

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Thing is, compared with the rest of our stock, they are luxury!

You northern people must have high standards.

Our 153s are knackered, 150s aren't too bad but could do with a bit of a touch up and the Wessex refurb 158s have useless seats when it compares with the thick TPE versions.
 

g4mby

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Most of the ex CT units have now moved on to Northern as part of its fleet expansion. According to my records, the following units have moved from TPX to FGW over the past few months:
June - 158750
July - 158762/3/4/5
August - 158761
September - 158760/6
October - 158769/76
November - 158778/98

Hopefuly this will tie in with Nat's records.
158767/68 are also with FGW and 158771 has also been reported as transferred although I have yet to see it. According to Railway Magazine these were probably transferred in October.

Unless any have returned this weekend all ex-CT units in green livery have now gone to Northern, only 158855 in Wessex livery remains.
 

Mojo

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Apparently a reason for the chaos this morning was the reformation of the 3Car 158s which were "Converted" by Wessex, I heard there were lots of Faults in the cabs that havent been used for a good few years!

According to local news, and other people out there, it was a right nightmare this morning, FGW have already planned their cancellations for tomorrow morning according to their site!
 

Nat the Ned

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Most of the ex CT units have now moved on to Northern as part of its fleet expansion. According to my records, the following units have moved from TPX to FGW over the past few months:
June - 158750
July - 158762/3/4/5
August - 158761
September - 158760/6
October - 158769/76
November - 158778/98

Hopefuly this will tie in with Nat's records.

Seems OK to me if you add (as pointed out by g4mby) 158767+158768 which arrived at Exeter for the first time on October 27th as 5Z40. As for 158771 it is not currently with FGW as far as I know.

The ex TPE 158s are in good nick compared to the inherited junk from Wessex/Wales&West which Canton only kept on the rails with masking (hazard) tape. As far as I know ALL the Wessex created 158/9's have been split although I could be proved wrong.

All the Central green ones have gone (that was back in Sept). There are still many in Wessex Silver such as 745/746/747 and plenty of the 1588xx now the 158/9s have been split...

Am fairly sure the aim is to get rid of the higher numbered 158s with Perkins engines and standardise the fleet with the lower numbered Cummins powered ones. Of these 158863 moved from Bristol to Haymarket on Saturday and at least three were earmarked to go to Reading Depot for storage.

I'd stay away from them if I were you Sprog, just touching something may cause the whole unit to disintegrate...........
 

Dennis

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There certainly were a lot of problems in the West Country today with late / cancelled trains. More 'protests' at BTM as well regarding the timetable changes and perceived cuts. However, there is some good news, a couple of additonal services have been added to the timetable at the last minute.

I expect FGW management are not sleeping easily at the moment; all these operational problems (loosing units, transfer of maintenance to SPM, MTU / HST refurb program and the ongoing engineering works) combined with a lot of negative publicity (twice in the last week on 'Points West') and the future premium payments.....

To further compound matters, there were an awful lot of irate passengers in West Wilts on Saturday, notwithstanding the forthcoming service cuts at Melksham. At ~10.30 I went past the Trowbridge station and it was heaving, probably 200-250 'customers' waiting for a delayed Cardiff train which was already full and standing. Many were obviously left behind, only to enjoy Pacer thrash on the next service.

An hour later, the situation was reportedly no better with Trowbridge ticket office refusing to sell tickets and actively turning people away. This was on a day when there were no local sprting events, just norms off to do their shopping in Bath/Bristol/Cardiff .

The good folk of West Wilts deserve better than this; having units being sent off elsewhere (possibly even into store in the case of a couple of 153's) when so many services are cancelled or overcrowded is just plain potty.
 

Mojo

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They already are.

I travelled [on a 3Car 158] between Southampton Ctl and Bristol Temple M before the summer, once on a Sunday and once at about 4pm on a Friday - both times were very busy, with standees at one point during the journey. In a better world, trains should've been extended to 4Cars, with 6Cars into B'tol during the morning and leaving in the pm.
 

devon_metro

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Indeed, the only PHH-CDF service i have ever been on was packed, The vestiable was full!

Where is the logic in what fGW have done.

I thought people were meant to be encouraged to use Public Transport, and with the up-coming fare increases are they taking the total p*ss
 

Jim

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Indeed, the only PHH-CDF service i have ever been on was packed, The vestiable was full!

Where is the logic in what fGW have done.

I thought people were meant to be encouraged to use Public Transport, and with the up-coming fare increases are they taking the total p*ss




IT is FGW, there is no logic, there is no sense, next there will be no trains!
 

Mojo

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FGW aren't all to blame - the DfT is in demanding such an unreasonable subsidy (which requires FGW to save money by increasing fares and reducing train leasing costs).

Here is an extract from the Service Specification, written by Civil Servants in the DfT.
F1 CARDIFF CENTRAL - PORTSMOUTH HARBOUR

1 Route Definition

1.1 Services shall be provided between Cardiff Central and Portsmouth
Harbour calling at Newport (S.Wales), Filton Abbey Wood, Bristol Temple
Meads, Bath Spa, Trowbridge, Westbury, Warminster, Salisbury, Romsey,
Southampton Central, Fareham, Cosham, Fratton and Portsmouth &
Southsea. Services after 2000 need not call at Cosham.

1.2 Limited Stops shall be made at Dilton Marsh, Bradford-on-Avon,
Freshford, Keynsham and Severn Tunnel Junction.

3 Limited Stops

3.1 Severn Tunnel Junction

(a) On Mondays to Fridays, two services departing Cardiff Central
between 1700 and 1900 shall call.

They do , but are provided by F2 Cardiff Central - Westbury services.

3.4 Bradford-on-Avon

(a) On Mondays to Fridays, the service from Portsmouth Harbour
specified in paragraph 2.1(f) shall call.

3.5 Dilton Marsh

On Mondays to Fridays, the service from Portsmouth Harbour specified in
paragraph 2.1(f) shall call.

2.1 Mondays to Fridays

(f) Between and including the Early and Late Services, 14 services from
Portsmouth Harbour shall be provided at hourly intervals.

14 services from Portsmouth Harbour at hourly intervals clearly do not
call at Bradford - on - Avon & Dilton Marsh.

All F1 Cardiff Central - Portsmouth Harbour services exceed the maximum
journey time of 3 hours 18 minutes except the 1730 & 1830 Cardiff
Central departures.

All F1 Portsmouth Harbour - Cardiff Central services exceed the maximum
journey time of 3 hours 14 minutes , although one exception of 3 hours
40 minutes is permitted.

No mention of total capacities whatsoever.
 
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